"I don't know what's going to happen," said Johnson, who has taught at Pietzsch-MacArthur elementary for seven years. "It's getting closer and closer to when school starts – should I be looking elsewhere? Should I wait and file unemployment? What do we do now? Sit and wait for two or three more weeks?"

The uncertainty follows Monday's inaction by the board, which earlier seemed poised to approve a layoff necessitated by a $25 million budget shortfall.

Johnson said she was disappointed that so many trustees opted not to vote at all.

"This is your job," she said of the trustees. "They're the reason we're in the position to begin with, because of their mismanagement of money. It was almost like, we got you here, but we're going to put it in someone else's hands."

Education Commissioner Michael Williams had hoped the board would approve the layoffs and help the district make strides toward a balanced budget.

"My expectation is that the board (of trustees) would address the question of the deficit and move forward with regards to the RIF. Obviously, they did not," he said. "That will leave some heavy lifting for the board of managers."

Johnson said she understands that an appointed board of managers will likely make deeper cuts, but she believes they will be more fairly done.

"With a board of managers, they'll look at things and do it unbiased and a lot more fair for everybody involved," she said. "The cuts may go deeper but hopefully they'll start with administration positions that we don't need instead of teachers."

With two masters degrees, certifications in educational leadership, school counseling and working with gifted and talented children, Johnson is certified as an EC-4 generalist and EC-12 counselor. She is the only teacher slated to be cut from Pietzsch-MacArthur,

"I shouldn't have been on the list based on the criteria," she said. "There's no way it was done fairly."

Williams agreed, saying that there is no doubt that if a board of managers makes the cuts, "they will take a more balanced approach to their work."